More than 100 nongovernmental organizations from around the world have issued an Evian water challenge to leaders of the Group of 8 major industrial nations that will meet next week in Evian, France. The challenge demands that the G8 nations stop pressuring developing countries to privatize their water resources. The European Union has been especially aggressive in this effort. The EU is demanding that 72 countries open their water sectors to foreign private investment in the world trade negotiations. This would greatly benefit the six major multinational corporations, which account for virtually all private investment in water utilities in developing countries. They include the France’s Suez and Vivendi Environnement corporations, as well as Bechtel. Bechtel is the U.S. company that won the first major reconstruction contract in Iraq.